Physics 111 Lab #6:
Rotational Dynamics I: Moments of Inertia
The moments of inertia of objects with a variety of shapes will also be
studied.
Key Activities:
Measuring the Moments of
Inertia of Simple Shapes
By measuring the acceleration of simple objects as they roll down an
incline with known angle, the moments of inertia of these objects will be
estimated and compared to known values
(Lecture 17).
"Roller Derby"
In this activity, objects of different
size, mass, material, etc., will be rolled down an incline in a series of
"races" to identify the parameters that contribute to the speed of the
objects (Lecture 17).
Energetics of Rolling
Objects
The relationship between the rotational and translational
energies of different rolling objects (a cart, a solid sphere, and a
hollow cylinder) will be studied in this activity (Lectures
Lecture 18 and
Lecture 19).
These results show the fractional contributions of
both the rotational (top) and translational (bottom) kinetic energies to
the object's total energy, illustrating that the rotational kinetic
energy of an object comprises a greater contribution of the object's
total energy for objects with a larger value of the constant
I/MR2.
What's happening?
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